Manual talk:Short URL/Apache

Previous page history was archived for backup purposes at Manual talk:Short URL/Apache/LQT Archive 1 on 2015-07-10.

For some reason, MediaWiki packaged for Debian installs in /usr/share/mediawiki instead of somewhere under /var/www. There is also no file for it in /etc/apache2/sites-available, only in /etc/apache2/conf-available. In which section of which file do the settings go in this case? I am trying to use the root access method and not a .htaccess file, to be clear.

These are the worst instructions for anything I have ever encountered.

There are just seemingly random thoughts recorded in paragraphs. Files that are mentioned are:

/etc/apache2/apache2.conf

/etc/apache2/sites-available/default.conf (this actually 000-default.conf on my distribution)

.htaccess (many places)

LocalSettings.php

Which of these files should be edited?

What is needed are instructions like this:

1. edit <filename> - add <this line> and <this line>
2. enable mod_somemod by typing a2enmod <mod_somemod>
3. restart apache2 by typing systemctl restart apache2

etc.

What it needs is editing, not deleting. This is a wiki, so any edit that improves the content is welcome.

@Ciencia Al Poder like the anonymous user above me (believe it or not that we are not the same person) I think that you take the seriously bad situation of this webpage and how serious it misleads people, too easy.

@Jonathan3 indeed, I am not the anonymous who wrote the original post but I can understand where his frustration is coming from; you told me "it's all in here" but really, sadly it's not very much the case.

I bet if you think it through and stop asking questions you'll find the answer here :-)

@Jonathan3 I guess you meant my recent questions on the subject in "support desk";

I nicely disagree with that approach ; I when a page is SO undidactic, it kinds of take the spirit out from cooperating, for me at least. In face I already wrote a revised version of the opener of this "guide" and should publish it soon.

I'm the anonymous user. I've remembered my user/pass.

For those running debian 10 (probably Ubuntu too) with root access and apache2 do all of this as root:

1. You need to ensure the rewrite module is loaded in apache2 by doing this:

Type:

a2enmod

then when prompted type

rewrite

then press <enter>

2. Next, edit /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf by typing

nano /etc/apache2/sites-available/000-default.conf

(or your favourite editor like vi instead)

Immediately before the closing </VirtualHost> tag insert three lines that read:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^/?wiki(/.*)?$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/index.php [L]

RewriteRule ^/*$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/index.php [L]

This assumes that your mediawiki installation is in the same directory that apache2 is treating as the document root. The document root path is shown in the file you have open. If your index.php file is in that directory then this will work. This will be the case if your URLs are http://mywiki.com/index.php If your URLs look like http://mywiki.com/somefolder/index.php then you will need to modify the above lines to look like this:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteRule ^/?wiki(/.*)?$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/somefolder/index.php [L]

RewriteRule ^/*$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/somefolder/index.php [L]

Save the file

3. restart apache2 by typing:

systemctl restart apache2

If it won't restart you've done something wrong which you need to troubleshoot.

4. Next edit LocalSettings.php by typing

nano /var/www/html/LocalSettings.php

(or whatever path you are using)

Look for the text $wgScriptPath (which will probably be near the top)

As above, if your installation is directly in document root, this will probably read $wgScriptPath = ""; in which case, leave it alone. If you are in a subdirectory like above, it will read something different. Leave it alone anyway.

Add this line under it:

$wgArticlePath = "/wiki/$1";

Save the file.

Done.

Polymath you've been a lifesaver. Following your instructions got this done in about 10 seconds. Trying to use the incoherent instructions on the article itself had got me pulling my hair out after failing to make it work for an hour.

I used the script on redwerks.org, running wikipedia on a low-cost shared server. I copied the Apache Config and saved it as a new .htaccess in the directory that the URL should be redirected to, and changed the rows in LocalSetting.php. All done. This was just trial and error and I am happy it worked.

Thank you so much

the "somefolder" tip solved de problem for me

Why you do not put this in the actual article?

I didn't realize I could edit the article!

Did everything according to the guide. Instead of redirecting to main page, accessing my domain (as well as */index.php) displays a page that contents a single "+" symbol and debug outputs if switched on, and nothing else.

Also, CSS broke after fiddling with short urls, now even if I undo everything I still have this error:

Refused to apply style from... because its MIME type ('text/html') is not a supported stylesheet MIME type, and strict MIME checking is enabled.

Not asking for help, but the guide probably needs to be updated.

Never mind, my mistake entirely. Guide is OK, thanks for writing it!

(No luck on main mediawiki support desk)

I want to use replace an existing website with mediawiki, but to preserve incoming links I need to remove some path names using .htaccess

So https://subbrit.org.uk/sites/fan-bay-deep-shelter should become https://subbrit.org.uk/fan-bay-deep-shelter, ditto features and a few more

I already use the shortURL logic to shorten paths

LocalSettings.php

$wgScriptExtension = ".php";
$wgArticlePath = "/$1";
$wgUsePathInfo = true;
$wgScriptPath = "";

.htaccess

RewriteEngine On 
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI} !-f 
RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI} !-d 
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/index.php [L]

But my attempts to add new rules like

RewriteRule ^sites/(.*)$ /$1 [R]

just don't take effect, it just asks if I want to create a new page Sites/fan-bay-deep-shelter. The rules do work on the server away from the wiki area. I worry that I'm just changing the URL, but mediawiki is working onm the underlying URI which is not changing

I followed the process for my local wiki, and it works. Yet, the browser displays the rewritten URL.

Local wiki on my Mac Powerbook:

Scripts located on /Library/WebServer/Documents/wiki

I want to use the name of the wiki site: wikipapers.

After reconfiguring Apache (on httpd.conf) I can write:

http://localhost/wikipapers/Laplace_transform

Apache shows the proper page ... but ... on the navigation bar I still get

http://localhost/wiki/index.php/Laplace_transform

Are there any missing steps?

You're missing setting $wgArticlePath = "/wikipapers/$1";

I reply to myself: I forgot to set $wgArticlePath to

"/wikipapers/$1".

Now it works fine. It also works using Alias ...

There have been some recent changes to the recommended RewriteConfig rules implying that without them VisualEditor is broken.

• https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Manual:Short_URL/Apache&diff=prev&oldid=5457107 first adding a !^(VisualEditor) check.
• https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?title=Manual:Short_URL/Apache&diff=next&oldid=5569958 then changing that to a !^/w/rest\.php check.

Can anyone provide some reference to this issue and confirm that it's real and not just speculation added by some users?

The first change targets the VisualEditor user agent but the second asserts that it's just rest.php that needs to not be rewritten. However the RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI} !-f line is already supposed to be enough to stop Apache from rewriting rest.php (otherwise it would be rewriting index.php, thumb.php, etc). So this recommendation should be redundant.

I would like to know because if it's a real change we need to make to the recommended Short URL config, then I'd like to update the ShortURL Builder tool. And if it's not actually necessary for VisualEditor to work, then the modification to the page should be reverted.

I'm currently running MediaWiki in my personal computer for experimentation purposes (i.e. not planning to use it in production). I'm using Apache in Arch Linux and was able to get the short URL working.

I spent more than 4 hours trying out the solutions mentioned in this documentation. Namely, I created the file .htaccess in multiple locations, edited the options AllowOverride and Options as specified in this page, but none of these ways worked. I decided to give up on Apache and use nginx instead, since there's also documentation on how to get the Short URL for nginx.

However, I then found Short URL/Page title -- Windows & Apache without 403 on Special Pages and was able to find the solution that worked for me. My solution was to add the Rewrite rules under <Directory "/srv/http"> in the file /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf. As a complete beginner user of Apache, I'd like to know whether this is recommended or not so that I can add it in this manual since it is not mentioned.

I'll describe what worked for me with the hope that other users find a solution faster than me and don't have to spend as much hours as I spent doing trial and error.

1. First, I wanted my links not to have mediawiki in the URL. That is, the default configuration that is bundled in Arch Linux makes the URL of the articles have the following format.

http://localhost/mediawiki/index.php/Main_Page

but I wanted the pages to exist in

http://localhost/w/index.php/Main_Page

To do this, I changed the first line of /etc/webapps/mediawiki/httpd-mediawiki.conf from Alias /mediawiki "/usr/share/webapps/mediawiki" to Alias /w "/usr/share/webapps/mediawiki"

2. Uncomment the line #LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so in the file /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf

3. Add the RewriteEngine and RewriteRule instructions under the section <Directory "/srv/http"> in the file /etc/httpd/conf/httpd.conf (see code block below)

(omitted lines)

DocumentRoot "/srv/http"
<Directory "/srv/http">
    RewriteEngine On
    RewriteRule ^/?wiki(/.*)?$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/w/index.php [L]

(omitted lines)

4. I then opened /usr/share/webapps/mediawiki/LocalSettings.php to make sure that the variables had the following values. By default, the variable $wgScriptPath already had that value, I just needed to add the line for $wgArticlePath below it.

$wgScriptPath = "/w";
$wgArticlePath = "/wiki/$1";

5. Finally, I restarted the service.

$ systemctl restart httpd.service

At this point, I was able to visit the Main Page using the following URLs.

http://localhost/w/index.php/Main_Page
http://localhost/wiki/Main_Page

Rewrite rules in <Directory> are possible, but not the easiest way, and you won't be able to rewrite URLs outside of that directory

https://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/rewrite/intro.html#htaccess

If it works for you in <Directory>, it should work on <VirtualHost> too.

Took a while to figure this out, but here are my simpleton's instructions on how to place the re-write directly on Apache instead of using an .htaccess file.

My host is a Virtual Private Network (VPN) which means I have access to CPANEL and WHM

If you do not have access to WHM, this is not for you. Also, these steps are written for Windows users.

NOTE: even though the instructions here say to edit the httpd.conf file directly DO NOT EDIT IT. You will see that at the very bottom of the file it reads:

#  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#   DO NOT EDIT. AUTOMATICALLY GENERATED.  USE INCLUDE FILES IF YOU NEED TO MAKE A CHANGE

#  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

>> there is an editor function in WHM called "Include editor" I could not figure out how to use this, so I used the following steps instead. I'm sure this will drive knowledgeable users crazy, but this is how I managed to get this stupid rewrite on the server without having to use an .htacces file

>> before starting remove an existing .htaccess file and/or remove the commands for short url that may be in it.

>> we are going to give those instructions directly to the Apache server, which will be included in a file called httpd.conf We are NOT going to edit that file directly.

Step 1.

> Go to CPANEL and open File Manager

>> it should open at the /home/accountname/ directory.

>> if not, click on that directory on the left-hand menu of File Manger.

> click on "+ File" on the top menu (to add a file)

> enter a file name with the extension conf

>> any name works, but must have .conf as extension: as in filename.conf

> select that file and click on "Edit"

>> it will be blank. Add to the very top in plaint text, per instructions on this manual, this code:

RewriteEngine On

RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI} !-f

RewriteCond %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}%{REQUEST_URI} !-d

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/w/index.php [L]

> "Save" and "Close" the file

Step 2.

> Go to WHM and open "Terminal"

> navigate to the httpd.conf file by using "change directory" commands (cd /)

>> the file should be located on this path: /etc/apache2/conf/

>>> first, navigate to the /etc/ folder by typing cd /etc

>>> then navigate to subfolders from there by typing cd directoryname (such as cd apache2 , then cd conf)

Step 3.

> once you are in the directory /etc/apache2/conf/

>> type dir in order to see the contents of that directory

>> you should see listed there the file htttp.conf

>>>> note that the instructions manual here says it may be called apache2.conf

(<<< btw, those instructions are confusing as it indicates that apache2.conf is a directory whereas it is a file name; in my WHM, which is up to date, it is http.conf )

> now we want to read that file:

> type cat http.conf

<<< "cat" command is for "read file"

>> the file contents will spill across the terminal

>> next, highlight the file contents on the screen using your mouse (start from the bottom, hit left click & hold it while scroll up to the beginning of the file, thus highlighting all the contents)

>>> release the left click button, then right click on the selected text and select "copy"

>>> paste the contents into a plain text editor (I use notepad.exe in Windows)

>>> in the text editor, search for your website name

>>> at the bottom the entry for your website/s it will read something like this:

"  # To customize this VirtualHost use an include file at the following location

  # Include "/etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/accountname/domain/*.conf"

( >> NOTE: if you do not have SSL enabled it that directory will read /std/)

>>> your account name and domain will be already written in that path

> copy that directory path to a new text editor window

Summary so far:

1. we created a new .conf file using CPANEL at the root of the CPANEL File Manager and wrote the re-write code for short urls.
2. we identified the correct path to add that file to by reading in WHM terminal, the existing httpd.conf
3. we copied that path and file name into a text editor.

Step 4.

> type cd to go back to the terminal root directory

>> it looks like root@server.yourprimarydomain.com [~]#

> now we are going to move the file you created in CPANEL to the location that the httpd.conf file told you to place it in order for whm to read and incorporate it into the existing httpd.conf file

> we will use the move command in the terminal: mv

> in your text editor type out the entire move command with the directory paths and file name

>> it should look like this (with your particular account and domain):

mv etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/accountname/domain/filename.conf /etc/apache2/conf.d/userdata/ssl/2_4/accountname/domain/

<< note the single space after "mv" and "filename.conf" (so it reads mv[SPACE]/path/path/filename.conf[SPACE]/path/path

> hit enter

>> this will move the file to the directory that the httpd.conf file told you corresponds to your website

>> if a file with that name is already there, it will ask you to confirm overwriting it. If so, type YES

Step 5.

> now we need to ask Apache to read the file and recompile the httpd.conf fle

> go to the root directory on the terminal

> type /scripts/ensure_vhost_includes --all-users

>> Apache will recompile the httpd.conf file and tell you if this worked or not

Step 6.

> reboot the server

> use "Gentle reboot"

Test out your site and hopefully you're good to go!

(Sadly this does not fix my issue with Visual Editor, which stopped working after I moved to short urls. That would seem to be a problem for another day)

1. You need to ensure the rewrite module is loaded in apache2 by doing this:

Type:

a2enmod

then when prompted type

rewrite

then press <enter>

didn't reply

My problem is that both none HTTPS requests and requests with WWW redirects to main page, whitch is fine when the requested url is the root domain, but not if the request is an article, special page etc.

Example 1: http://mydomain.com/wiki/Articlename redirects to https://mydomain.com/wiki/Main_Page, but I want to redirect to https://mydomain.com/wiki/Articlename

Example 2: https://www.mydomain.com/wiki/Articlename redirects to https://mydomain.com/wiki/Main_Page, but I want to redirect to https://mydomain.com/wiki/Articlename

This is my settings in .htaccess:

<IfModule rewrite_module>
RewriteEngine On
Options +FollowSymlinks

# Redirect Mydomain.com to Mydomain/wiki/Main_Page
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} mydomain\.com [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} ^/$
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /wiki/$1 [PT,L]

# Short url for wiki pages
RewriteRule ^/?wiki(/.*)?$ %{DOCUMENT_ROOT}/w/index.php [PT,L]

# Permanent redirect www url to non-www
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^www\.mydomain\.com$ [NC]
RewriteRule (.*) http://mydomain.com/$1 [L,R=301]

# Permanent redirect HTTP to HTTPS
RewriteCond %{SERVER_PORT} 80
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ https://mydomain.com/$1 [R=301,L]
</IfModule>

Any idea what I'm doing wrong?

Fredrilj (talk) 10:22, 17 April 2017 (UTC)

Probably that you need to put the http to https redirect at the start rather than the end of the file - I haven't studied how .htaccess works - but if https is working fine then if you convert the http to https right at the start, the rest of the url unchanged, then as it flows through it should work just as if the user had entered an https url originally. Robertinventor (talk) 16:52, 1 October 2018 (UTC)

Make sure the 'rewrite' module is on first - had me stuck for ages.... it is off by default on Apache

'sudo a2enmod rewrite'

then restart:

'sudo systemctl restart apache2'